And I, God's hate flung o'er me, Had not enough, to thrust The stubborn rocks before me And strike them into dust!
— from Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So inflexible and proof was he against such flattery, and master of that advice which Hercules in Antisthenes 675 gave, when he ordered his sons to be grateful to no one that praised them; which meant nothing else than that they should not be dumbfoundered at it, nor flatter again those who praised them.
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

They were Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore, Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, Mr. Langton, Dr. Robertson the Historian, Dr. Hugh Blair, and Mr. Thomas Davies, who wished much to be introduced to these eminent Scotch literati; but on the present occasion he had very little opportunity of hearing them talk, for with an excess of prudence, for which Johnson afterwards found fault with them, they hardly opened their lips, and that only to say something which they were certain would not expose them to the sword of Goliath; such was their anxiety for their fame when in the presence of Johnson.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

“There's no end to this tunnel,” said Phyllis—and indeed it did seem very very long.
— from The Railway Children by E. (Edith) Nesbit

Their humble prayers were rejected with insolence and derision; and as their patience was now exhausted, the townsmen, the soldiers, and the Goths, were soon involved in a conflict of passionate altercation and angry reproaches.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

The police do not know me, save as you know me; not even the terrible Third Section.
— from Princess Zara by Ross Beeckman

Having thus particularized the operations of the allied army since the commencement of the campaign, we shall now endeavour to trace the steps of the king of Prussia, from the period to which his army was assembled for action.
— from The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II. by T. (Tobias) Smollett

she said; “is it not enough, then, that thou shouldst break thy troth for Swanhild’s sake, that thou shouldst slay my brother and turn my hall to shambles?
— from Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

He got near enough to throw the stone at it, and to hit it on the head, after which he was no more troubled with the interruption.
— from A Book of Cornwall by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

Hey?' 'There is no end to the things,' said Hazel, facing round.
— from The Gold of Chickaree by Susan Warner

Now that he was beginning to know her for himself he could not endure the thought that she cared for another man.
— from The Purple Parasol by George Barr McCutcheon

I have quoted these opinions, since we must now entirely trust to the sentiments of others, in the judgment which we form of the merits of Sisenna; for although the fragments which remain of his history are more numerous than those of any other old Latin annalist, being about 150, they are also shorter and more unconnected.
— from History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Vol. II by John Colin Dunlop

Seated on a high stool Marjorie was too much absorbed in the counting of little piles of money, from notes to pennies, to do more than nod emphatically to this triumphant salutation.
— from Marjorie Dean, High School Senior by Josephine Chase

They are narrow enough to test the skill of an equilibrist, and it may be they are put down to drill the courtiers in that useful art.
— from Empires and Emperors of Russia, China, Korea, and Japan Notes and Recollections by Monsignor Count Vay de Vaya and Luskod by Péter Vay